


Papyrus Gets Kind of Cranky Without His Bedtime Story

by Papyarus



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Broken Bones, Emotional Manipulation, Family, Gaster and Flowey are only there for about one scene apiece, Gen, Nightmares, No Mercy Route, Undertale Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 20:31:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5798941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Papyarus/pseuds/Papyarus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story in which Papyrus has nightmares and fragmented memories.</p><p>Alternative summary: in which i take a one-off line from this game and make it sad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Papyrus Gets Kind of Cranky Without His Bedtime Story

Papyrus paced around the house, humming irritably to himself. Sans had vanished nearly an hour ago with no explanation. A common occurrence, but an annoying one nonetheless. Especially as the night grew later and Papyrus' eyes, heavier.

Yes, Sans often disappeared for hours at a time- but usually not on sleep-nights. 

Unlike Sans, he didn't need to sleep often: only a few hours at most, every several days. But unfortunately, this was one of those nights. Papyrus forced himself to keep waiting. Sans would show up eventually. 

Another half hour passed.

Papyrus was no longer pacing. He had retired to his room, and conjured a ball of energy. He anxiously passed it back and forth between his hands, more focused on his thoughts. 

It was the silence that got to him the most. Usually he could hear Sans shuffling about in his room, little explosive noises as he tinkered with... whatever he kept in his room. The hallway would flash with the multicolored lights that often shone under Sans' door, a constant reminder that Papyrus was not alone.

He dropped the ball of magic. It dissipated into dark blue mist. Papyrus couldn't muster the energy to reform it. 

"... IT'S FINE. I'M A GROWN SKELETON, I-I DON'T NEED HIM TO READ ME TO SLEEP /EVERY/ NIGHT." Papyrus muttered hoarsely to himself. He forced himself to lay back in the bed, awkwardly pulling the covers over himself. 

Papyrus stared up at the ceiling.

About ten minutes passed. The ceiling had won the staring contest many times over. Papyrus groaned, pulled the blankets over his head, and forced his eyes shut. 

Sleep never came easy to Papyrus- maybe due to a lack of practice, maybe out of an old, childhood belief that royal guards must always be prepared for an ambush- and a sleeper is certainly an easy target. 

Maybe from fear... Fear of half-remembered pain and grief that only seemed to bubble up to the forefront of his mind when-

Papyrus forced that thought aside. Focusing on that wouldn't help anything. 

It took nearly an hour of forcing himself to relax before Papyrus finally felt himself fade into sleep. And with the last sliver of consciousness he had, Papyrus realized, too late, that he had doomed himself. 

-

A sickening crack. A ragged gasp. Panting. The feeling of snow under his boots, his hands, melting on his skull and scarf.

*papyrus... run. *

A blue flicker in his brother's eye, even as Sans' skull melted into dust. 

"S-SANS!" 

An empty blue jacket, coated in fine powder and ketchup stains, fluttered to the ground. The kid grinned knowingly, sickeningly. 

He scooped up the jacket, and listened. 

\--

The sad remains of Undyne, now little more than a puddle and a worn eyepatch. He prefered to keep both eyes open, and decided to keep the eyepatch as a sort of necklace. The jacket was too small for him, but he wore it anyway. It was all he had. 

\---

Melting face in the darkness. A language like static, terrifying but familiar. 

Who is he? 

Who was I?

I am.

\----

Dust, on his gloves, his scarf, his brother's tattered jacket, on the ground, in the air, in his throat. He'd stopped being able to cry hours ago.

\-----

A golden corridor. The twisted child.

Determination. 

\------

No. No. No.

He couldn't. 

PLEASE.

PLEASE...

YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS. I KNOW YOU CAN. YOU ARE CAPABLE OF SO MUCH BETTER... I-I KNOW YOU CAN GO BACK. 

UNDO IT ALL, PLEASE.... PLEASE... 

MY BROTHER... UNDYNE... EVERYONE. WE COULD-

WE COULD BE HAPPY.

He could feel the vertebrae in his neck snap as the knife cleaved through him. The eyepatch's string caught on the blade, and tore. His tears mixed with his own dust as the agony tore through him. 

\-------

Another timeline. Sans, alive, gloriously alive- but why wouldn't he be? Nothing had happened, of course. 

Many encounters. Many split vertebrae, but where was his brother this time? Forcing back tears, watching from the trees, as Papyrus died over and over, in this timeline and the next. Maybe that was for the best, since Papyrus couldn't remember much if he was dead.

But of course that had never happened, for neither of them had ever died.

\--------

He looked at his bones, and found half-healed cracks from timelines ago. What did he do to himself?

\---------

Whispered encouragement from a flower.

Bitter reminders of his own failings.

"You are weak. You pretend to be strong, to be important, because you know you're not. You act like you love yourself so maybe, someone else will care about you too. But no one does. Not even your deadbeat brother. He could've been happy if he didn't have to take care of you, make sure you don't kill yourself getting in everyone's way. You're a nuisance to everyone, and you'll always be.

"Aww. Don't cry. I'm only telling you this because /I/ care about you. Yes, I do. You matter to /me/, Papyrus..."

He couldn't look Sans in the eye for weeks.

\----------

But of course, that was timelines and timelines ago.

The yellow flower he knew now, couldn't possibly be the same. 

\-----------

I DON'T WANT TO DIE.

*papyrus.... *

HOW MANY TIMES, SANS. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SEEN THIS.

*oh god. *

... I LOVE Y-YOU, BROTHER.

*i'm so sorry *

*i *

*god no *

 

 

 

 

 

SANS? ARE YOU ASLEEP AT YOUR STATION AGAIN??

*... pap? *

.... ARE- ARE YOU CRYING?

*papyrus... do you- *

YES, BROTHER?

*never mind. *

*.... i-i love you, too *

\------------

Fear of half-remembered pain and grief that only seemed to bubble up to the forefront of his mind when-

when he fell asleep alone

\-------------

Do you remember me?

Do you remember what you’ve done?

Do you understand?

You are broken inside.

We cannot be fixed.

\--------------

Crying. Sans holds him close. *what do you need me to do? *

I-I… I DON’T… I…

*shhh. shhhhhhhh. *

I D-DIDN’T WANT THIS TO H-HAPPEN.

*i know. i know. *

\---------------

*do you want him dead? *

\-----------------

Papyrus woke clutching the pillow, hot tears rolling down his skull. His breath shuddered. He couldn’t remember anything.

He remembered it all.

But did he really?

It was dark outside. Footsteps shuffled in the hall, and Papyrus almost started crying again from relief.

“SANS!!!”

Immediately the door opened, and there, finally, was Sans. Papyrus had sat up in the bed, arms hugging his knees. This same situation had happened a dozen times, he realized- but as soon as the thought occurred, it was gone. 

*papyrus… what happened? *

Sans sat down on the side of the racecar bed. His smile wavered as Papyrus dragged him into a hug, sobbing into his brother’s ribcage. 

*hey, hey… it’s alright. it’s ok, pap. i’m here. i’m here. *

Papyrus felt his brother’s hand rub soothing circles on his backbone. He choked out, “I-I’M SORRY. I… I JUST… I’M...”

*you don’t have to tell me unless you want to. *

Papyrus took several, shuddering breaths. 

*i’m sorry i didn’t know you were going to sleep tonight. i would’ve been back earlier. do you want to try going back to sleep?... do you want me to read to you? *

“Y-YES. PLEASE.” 

At four AM, Papyrus fell asleep to his brother’s voice, and dreamed of nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this like 2 months ago and a few of my headcanons have changed since then but i still like this as it is.
> 
> Also, some people believe Papyrus doesn't sleep at all, which kinda makes sense given certain lines in game [being shocked at how long sans sleeps at night], but because that conflicts with certain other lines, I go with the explanation i wrote here: every few days, for a couple of hours. 
> 
> If you cant tell exactly what's going on, that's probably for the best. For the whole dream... everything, i did my best to make it stream-of-consciousness and feel disassociated. Most of it's pretty much up for interpretation, though for some of the vaguer bits, I do have some very personal interpretations I'd rather not fully explain. 
> 
> Also if you think this is incest because they said "i love you" ur wrong


End file.
